Baby Can't Wait To Get To Hospital

Mom Delivers In Truck's Front Seat To Dad's Surprise

When Debra Gallo went into labor Saturday evening, her husband, Tom, knew he had to get to the hospital fast. He just didn't know how fast.

During the the short drive from their house to Boca Raton Community Hospital, Debra Gallo made a startling announcement: "The head's coming out."

"No it's not," Tom Gallo told his 37-year-old wife.

He flicked on the dome light in the truck and discovered his wife was right.

Instead of the hospital delivery the couple envisioned, his wife delivered her fifth child - a 4-pound, 13-ounce boy - in the front seat of the family Chevrolet Colorado with no help from anyone.

Delivery time and place: About 6:20 p.m. on Dixie Highway.

"She felt a contraction, ... pushed and he popped out," said 51-year-old Tom Gallo, who said his wife was in labor for probably only an hour.

Concerned that the infant wasn't breathing, he drove to a nearby gas station to call for help. Within minutes, paramedics arrived, massaged the baby's chest and got him breathing. A crowd of well-wishers gathered to watch, he said.

Despite the chaotic delivery, mom and son, named Matthew Marley, are doing fine and expected to come home Monday, Tom Gallo said.

Three of the couple's older children, who were sitting in the back seat of the truck, got a rare treat: watching their sibling enter the world.

"They were as surprised as I was that he came out so fast," said Gallo, who works as a roofer. "It was her shortest labor ever."